10 replies to this topic

[slowjoe]

Hello,

this year I want to spent my vacation in Italy. I have the idea to drive the route of one of the Mille Miglia races. Thus, I am looking for detailed information about the route. I have learned that there is more than one route (see http://www.ddavid.co...ula1/miglia.htm, section "The Races"). I decided to follow the route of the legendary race of 1955. But I cannot find any detailed information about the exact route...

Does anyone have GPS tracks or a recommendation for a good book that explains the routes as good as one can find the route by this description? Are road books of the historical or the current races publicly available? A detailed list of locations (incl. villages) that are passed on the way is what I am looking for.
Any help is highly appreciated!

Kind regards,

slowjoe

[Alan Cox]

Johnny Lurani's book about the Mille Miglia, which is probably the best book covering all of the races yet produced, has maps of every race route which, although reproduced to a small scale, are pretty clear and should enable you to work out the routing by reference to larger-scale maps.

Alternatively, you could buy one of the reproduction Jenks roller maps, marketed by Sir Stirling, at £722 each! http://www.stirlingm.../roller_map.htm

Don't try to slavishly follow the route of today's retrospective, as it makes numerous detours that never formed part of any of the original routes.

[Tim Murray]

We had this earlier thread on Mille Miglia routes. See post 21 from Kvadrat for a link to the 1955 route.

[ovfi]

A more detailed description, found in Wikipedia :

" Nell’edizione 1954, si registra quella che è destinata ad essere l’ultima variazione di tracciato. La modifica è determinata dal desiderio degli organizzatori e dell’intero mondo sportivo di onorare la memoria di Tazio Nuvolari (morto nell’agosto 1953) inserendo la sua città natale (Mantova) tra quelle toccate dalla corsa ed istituendo un Premio speciale (Gran premio Tazio Nuvolari) da assegnarsi al concorrente che farà registrare la velocità media più elevata nel tratto finale Cremona-Mantova-Brescia.

Brescia - Desenzano del Garda - Peschiera del Garda - Verona - Vicenza - Padova - Monselice - Rovigo - Ferrara - Ravenna-Forlì - Cesena - Rimini - Pesaro- Fano- Senigallia- Ancona-Porto Civitanova - S.Benedetto de Tronto - Giulianova - Pescara - Chieti scalo- Popoli- L’Aquila - Antrodoco- Rieti-Roma- Madonna di Bracciano- Monterosi- Vetralla- Viterbo- Bolsena- Radicofani- San Quirico D’Orcia- Siena- Poggibonsi- San Casciano- Firenze - Passo della Futa- Passo della Raticosa - Bologna - Modena - Reggio Emilia - Parma - Piacenza - Cremona - Mantova - Montichiari - Brescia.

Km 1597,000 (Km 85,000 in più rispetto all’anno precedente, per l’inserimento, tra Cremona e Brescia, della deviazione su Mantova in onore di Nuvolari) "

[Alan Cox]

Originally posted by Tim Murray

We had this earlier thread on Mille Miglia routes. See post 21 from Kvadrat for a link to the 1955 route.

The maps on these links appear to be the same ones that are printed in the Lurani book.

[slowjoe]

I appreciate your input.

I have loaded the maps and will compare them to the Italy map I bought.

The list of cities that ovfi has posted is more detailed than the one that millemiglia.it provides. Thank you! Together with the scan of the '55 route I am positive that I can find the rough route on my map.
The scans have a good quality, however I am not sure that one can identify every single dirt road.
Buying the reproduction of the Jenks roller map is beyond my budget for this vacation...

How did the race drivers back in the 50's identify the right way? What was their input? I mean, at least they must have had something like a list of checkpoints. I know that Jenkinson made a more sophisticated version of that description, but even he needed to start with something.
I can hardly imagine that none of those descriptions have been preserved.

Any input is welcome,

slowjoe

[slowjoe]

The list of locations in the Italian WikiPedia is very valuable.
I just planned the routes from each point to the next using maps.google.com and although Google suggests the fastest routes, I can clearly see, which way would have been taken by the drivers back in 1955. For example, see the suggested route for driving from Fano to Senigallia (http://maps.google.c...=UTF8&om=1&z=12). The route goes on A14, but the drivers of the Mille Miglia probably took SS16. Should be easy to follow the original route to a large extent.

Thanks for your valuable help!
Regards,

slowjoe

[D-Type]

Although not as comprehensive as the Wikipedia list as to the route, this extract from My cars, my career which gives the distances and Moss's times may be of interest.

From To Distance (km) Time

Brescia Ravenna 303 1hr 36min 20sec
Ravenna Pescara 327 1hr 42min 53sec
Pescara Aquila 100 37min 42 sec
Aquila Rome 144 1hr 6min 7sec
Rome Siena 227 1hr 48 min `4sec
Siena Firenze 70 36min 4sec
Firenze Bologna 107 1hr 1min 26sec
Bologna Cremona 185 59min 8sec
Cremona Brescia 134 39min 54sec

[bradbury west]

Slowjoe;

When you are going through Mantua/Mantova, be sure to visit the Nuvolari Museum. Highly recommended

Roger Lund.

[fuzzi]

The original routes were set out in directions provided by the AC di Brescia, these were not detailed and route marking prior to the race was vital for finding the way. Further route marking was added for the race - at least red arrows on the bends.

By the fifties tear-off route guides were available to all competitors - Bill Mason, of Shell Film Unit fame and Nick's Dad, used one in 1953 when he rode with Dr Cacciari. Hans Klenk who rode with Karl Kling in the Gullwing Mercedes in 1952 prepared his own detailed notes (written up in a ring bound book) and shouted directions to the driver through a small megaphone.

[slowjoe]

Well, this explains, why it is so difficult to find a detailed route description.
Thanks for the information! Actually, I knew about the famous red "1000 Miglia" signs...

slowjoe